Lisbon, June 24, 2026 (Lusa) - The Court of Auditors rejected any responsibility on Wednesday for the delay and cost of the future Lisbon Eastern Hospital, stating that it had approved the project within 27 working days and that it had required several clarifications to address “shortcomings and irregularities”.
In a statement released today, the Court of Auditors (TdC) explained that this was a “highly complex” contract, with a total value of over €800 million and a term of 30 years, which was submitted to it on 21 February 2024 and received approval on 28 May of the same year.
It points out that the public procurement procedure began in 2017 and that the draft contract was only approved by the parties in January 2024.
The Court of Auditors’ clarification comes after the Deputy Minister for State Reform, Gonçalo Matias, stated on 15 June at a conference organised by Diário de Notícias that the new hospital project had been delayed “by years” and would cost “a further €164 million” because of the Court of Auditors and the current prior approval mechanism.
As part of the prior scrutiny process, the TdC states that it made three requests for clarification and documentation to “rectify shortcomings and illegalities”, as the dossier reached the court without the contract price or ministerial authorisation, failed to identify the contract manager, and contained “amending clauses” that breached the Public Contracts Code.
Approval was ultimately granted “with the recommendation to better safeguard the principles of competition and equality amongst tenderers in future procedures where contractual conditions are altered as a result of European funding mechanisms”, according to the statement released today.
The Court of Auditors (TdC) states that it also issued a warning regarding the need for “base isolation” and a “rigorous and effective system for monitoring the design of structures and foundations”.
In the document announcing that it would grant prior approval, in May 2024, the TdC issued “a firm, incisive and solemn warning to the audited entity”, requiring it – in accordance with the principles of “good administration” and the “protection of the State’s financial interests” – to include a base isolation system against earthquakes in the detailed design of the works.
It states that it is not the role of the TdC, in its capacity as a body overseeing legality, to rule on the technical adequacy of projects, but that it falls within its remit to apply the rules and principles that enable it to assess the legality of the contracts submitted.
At the end of the explanatory note published today, the Court of Auditors emphasises that it bears no responsibility for the time elapsed between the granting of approval and the start of construction work, nor for the associated costs.
The process for the new hospital dates back to 2017, with the call for tenders being published in the Official Journal of the European Union in December of that year. The contract was not finally awarded until July 2022, and the draft contract was approved in January 2024, with the contract being granted the following month.
In other words, by the time the contract was submitted to the Court of Auditors, it had already undergone several cost rescheduling, including a change to the public-private partnership financing model resulting from the incorporation of funding from the Recovery and Resilience Plan (RRP), amounting to a maximum of €100 million, which increased the complexity of the process.
In a directive published in April this year, the government appointed a committee to negotiate the hospital’s management contract, after delays in the construction work had resulted in the loss of the €100 million from the RRP that had been earmarked to finance part of the works provided for in the contract signed with Mota-Engil.
The Hospital Oriental de Lisboa, currently under construction in Marvila, will replace six healthcare facilities – the São José, Santa Marta, Capuchos, D. Estefânia and Curry Cabral hospitals, as well as the Alfredo da Costa Maternity Hospital.
According to information on Mota Engil's website, the company building the hospital, the facility will have an installed capacity of 849 beds, expandable to 1,065 in emergency situations.
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